Elections in Bulgaria – opposition party GERB wins parliamentary elections in Bulgaria – News

• In the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, the middle-class opposition party GERB became the strongest party with around 25 percent of the votes.
• The governing liberal PP (“We are continuing the change”) of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who was ousted in June, came in second with almost 20 percent.
• The three parties in the ruling coalition lost their majority. It was initially unclear on Sunday which parties could form a new government together.

According to the forecasts of several opinion research institutes, the pro-Western, bourgeois opposition party GERB led by long-serving Prime Minister Boiko Borissov is currently in the lead. He was voted out in April 2021 after allegations of corruption.

The governing liberal PP (“We are continuing the change”) of ex-Prime Minister Kiril Petkow achieved almost 20 percent and is in second place. The three parties in Petkow’s previous coalition government of PP, Socialists and the conservative-liberal-green alliance DB would come together to around 38 percent.

Between six and eight parties could move into parliament. Among them is again the pro-Russian and nationalist Wasraschdane (“Rebirth”), who can count on around 11 percent of the vote.

Before the elections, possible alliances had been ruled out and several parties accused each other of being corrupt. It was the fourth parliamentary election in the poorest EU country in around a year and a half. Voter turnout is low. The official results were only expected in the coming days. Interim results should be available on Monday at the earliest.

fight against corruption

Before the election, the PP ruled out a coalition with Borisov’s GERB. She accused Borisov and his party of corruption. Under the motto “Let’s finish our work”, the PP wants to continue the fight against corruption. She also pledged to rein in inflation, follow a NATO and EU stance and introduce the euro in 2024.

After just six months in office, the liberal-socialist coalition government led by the PP was overthrown by a vote of no confidence in June. Ex-Prime Minister Petkov sees Moscow behind the failure of his cabinet. Projects to combat corruption fell by the wayside. Until a new government is in place, a transitional cabinet appointed by Head of State Rumen Radew will continue to run official business.

During the election campaign, the concerns of around seven million Bulgarians revolved primarily around the effects of the war in Ukraine and rising prices. Inflation in August was 17.7 percent compared to the same month last year. High energy prices concern people more than corruption. Measured by gross domestic product per capita, Bulgaria was the poorest country in the EU last year.